SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — June 13, 2014 — NOAA fisheries has finalized 2014 scallop quotas, two months after the season has begun. They have approved the quotas for Framework Adjustment 25 recommended by the New England fishery management council under the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan.
The area TAC for Atlantic sea scallops is just over 42 million pounds, and the preliminary projection for 2015 is to go up about 7 million pounds, to close to 50 million pounds.
However this number will be reviewed several times before taking effect.The sea scallop volume is up from around 34 million lbs last year, and is at the high side of industry expectations for this year. It appears that we are entering an upward abundance cycle for scallops where the pattern of rotating closures will be yielding higher total landings.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.